APPROACHES

1. The Behaviourist Approach

  • Key Assumptions: Behavior is learned from experience through environmental conditioning. Only observable behavior should be studied scientifically.

  • Classical Conditioning (Pavlov): Learning by association.

    • Neutral Stimulus (NS) is paired with an Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) to produce an Unconditioned Response (UCR).

    • Eventually, the NS becomes a Conditioned Stimulus (CS) producing a Conditioned Response (CR).

  • Operant Conditioning (Skinner): Learning through reinforcement and punishment.

    • Positive Reinforcement: Receiving a reward for a behavior, increasing likelihood of repetition.

    • Negative Reinforcement: Removing an unpleasant stimulus when desirable behavior is performed.

    • Punishment: An unpleasant consequence that decreases the likelihood of behavior repetition.

  • Evaluations:

    • Strengths: Highly scientific methods, practical applications (e.g., token economy systems).

    • Weaknesses: Environmental determinism, issues with extrapolating animal research to humans.

2. Social Learning Theory (SLT)

  • Key Assumptions: Proposed by Albert Bandura. Behavior is learned through observation and imitation within a social context.

  • Key Concepts:

    • Vicarious Reinforcement: Individuals observe the consequences of others' behavior and imitate those that are rewarded.

    • Mediational Processes: Cognitive factors between stimulus and response:

    1. Attention: Noticing the behavior.

    2. Retention: Remembering the behavior.

    3. Motor Reproduction: Ability to perform the behavior.

    4. Motivation: Will or drive to perform the behavior.

    • Identification & Modelling: Individuals are more likely to imitate models they identify with.

  • Evaluations:

    • Strengths: Recognizes cognitive factors in learning, supported by Bandura's Bobo Doll study.

    • Weaknesses: Underestimates biological factors, demand characteristics in lab settings.

3. The Cognitive Approach

  • Key Assumptions: Internal mental processes (e.g., memory, perception, attention) can and should be studied scientifically.

  • Theoretical and Computer Models:

    • Information-processing model suggests the mind works similarly to a computer (input, processing, output).

  • Role of Schemata: Cognitive frameworks of information based on experience that help organize and interpret information.

  • Emergence of Cognitive Neuroscience: Scientific study of the influence of brain structures on cognitive processes using neuroimaging (e.g., fMRI, PET).

  • Evaluations:

    • Strengths: Highly scientific, real-world applications such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

    • Weaknesses: Machine reductionism, lacks ecological validity.

4. The Biological Approach

  • Key Assumptions: Everything psychological is first biological. Focuses on genetic, neurochemical, and neuroanatomical factors.

  • Key Concepts:

    • Genetic Basis of Behavior: Studied using twin studies comparing concordance rates in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins.

    • Genotype and Phenotype:

    • Genotype: An individual's actual genetic makeup.

    • Phenotype: The expression of genes combined with environmental influences.

    • Evolutionary Theory: Behavior evolves via natural selection to enhance survival and reproduction.

  • Evaluations:

    • Strengths: Scientific and objective methods, led to effective drug therapies (e.g., SSRIs).

    • Weaknesses: Biological determinism, fails to account for environmental influences.

5. The Psychodynamic Approach

  • Key Assumptions: Unconscious motives and early childhood experiences drive human behavior (Freud).

  • Structure of Personality:

    • Id: Operating on the pleasure principle, present at birth, selfish and impulsive.

    • Ego: Operating on the reality principle, mediates between Id and Superego.

    • Superego: Operating on the morality principle, represents internalized social standards.

  • Defense Mechanisms: Unconscious strategies used by the Ego to reduce anxiety (Repression, Denial, Displacement).

  • Psychosexual Stages: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital. Unresolved conflicts lead to fixation.

  • Evaluations:

    • Strengths: Huge historical impact, introduced psychoanalysis.

    • Weaknesses: Unfalsifiable concepts, psychic determinism, subjective case study methods.

6. The Humanistic Approach

  • Key Assumptions: Focuses on conscious experience, free will, and personal growth. Rejects deterministic views.

  • Key Concepts:

    • Free Will: Humans are active agents with personal control over choices and development.

    • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Self-actualization is the ultimate goal at the top of the hierarchy.

    • Self, Congruence, and Conditions of Worth (Rogers):

    • Self-Concept: How a person views themselves.

    • Congruence: Alignment between ideal self and actual self.

    • Conditions of Worth: Requirements imposed by parents/society to gain love/acceptance.

  • Evaluations:

    • Strengths: Holistic approach, positive view of human nature, person-centered therapy.

    • Weaknesses: Lacks empirical evidence, cultural bias toward individualist cultures.